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Dinobot (G1)
:The Dinobots are an Autobot subgroup in Generation One continuity family. In some continuities, before they arrive on Earth, they are known as the '''Dynobots'.'' The Dinobots are a rowdy, arrogant, lowbrow, disobedient band of warriors/godless killing machines that some Autobots would rather scrap than deal with. They're also one of the most devastatingly powerful and close-knit combat units in the Autobot army, being incredibly powerful in robot mode and taking alternate modes based on dinosaurs, the most powerful creatures to ever roam the Earth. Most of them dislike Optimus Prime, so whether or not they follow the Autobot leader's orders depends on what those orders are. If it's to destroy stuff, they're down with that. If it's to help people, it kinda depends on what the weather is like. The group's members are: *Grimlock (the king leader) *Slag (the bad boy) *Sludge (the dim one) *Snarl (the quiet one) *Swoop (the sensitive one) and in one story: *Paddles (the "Pete Best" one) In at least one micro-continuity, the Dinobots can combine to form a monstrous super-robot called the Beast. (Grimlock explicitly states that this is not the case in the Marvel UK continuity, though he has been known to stretch the truth.) :Portuguese name (Portugal comic): Dinobóticos :Hungarian name (second Movie dub): Dínók :Portuguese name (Brazil comic): Robodinos :Hungarian name (first Movie dub): Vasállatok (Iron-animals) Fiction Marvel Comics continuity The Dinobots in the Marvel comic were not created on Earth, as in the cartoon, but were a distinct and pre-existing unit of five Autobot soldiers who were aboard the ''Ark when it crashed to Earth. The comic Dinobots, while not exactly Perceptor-grade, were significantly more intelligent than their cartoon counterparts. (Their commander, Grimlock, served as overall Autobot Commander on more than one occasion.) However, they were not as strong as their cartoon counterparts, either.'' Shortly after the crash, the Ark's computer detected Shockwave landing on the planet in the Antarctic land-out-of-time that would one day become known as the Savage Land. The Ark used the last of its capabilities to revive these five warriors and rebuild them to transform into the Savage Land's dominant lifeform: dinosaurs. They were then dispatched to deal with the Decepticon, where they sank to the bottom of a tar pit and remained dormant until Ratchet revived them in the 1980s. The Dinobots accompanied Ratchet back to the Ark, where they discovered Shockwave had left Guardian on guard. The Dinobots nearly detonated the nuclear device he was carrying by trying to destroy him, until Swoop flew him out of the Ark, apparently perishing in the explosion. The other Dinobots then departed. Swoop resurfaced after being discovered by Professor Morris. When it was discovered he was suffering from circuit erosion which sent him berserk, Optimus Prime realised the other Dinobots could be similarly affected and despatched teams to find them. They eventually managed to bring the Dinobots down, but not before six Autobots had been deactivated, either by the rampaging Dinobots or by Soundwave's Decepticons. After being repaired, the Dinobots joined the rest of the Autobots preparing to attack Shockwave's base, in order to lure out Devastator and allow the Autobots to study his combining process, but refused to take part in a battle where they would be required to run away. Confined to the Ark because of their conspicious alt modes, the Dinobots were persuaded by Sludge to aid Joy Meadows in her attempt to expose the government's Robot Master cover-up. Their attempts to provide her with evidence saw them end up battling Megatron's Decepticons. Despite their receiving help from the automaton Centurion, they were unable to stop Soundwave destroying the evidence. The Dinobots departed the Autobot army in the company of Centurion, until he was destroyed by a newly-arrived Galvatron. The Dinobots discovered Galvatron battling a group of newly-arrived Autobots and waded in, but even with help from Blaster and Professor Morris, it was the intervention of Shockwave's Decepticons that ultimately saved the day. When they learned of the death of Optimus Prime, the Dinobots headed to the Ark to convince the Autobots to make Grimlock their new leader, by force if necessary. When Trypticon attacked the Autobots, the Dinobots seemed happy to sit by and let him soften them up until they were belatedly inspired to enter the battle, keeping Trypticon at bay until he was recalled to Cybertron. The grateful Autobots hailed Grimlock as their new leader. The Dinobots next saw action when Swoop's long-standing rivalry with Divebomb led them into a battle with the Predacons. Swoop ended up choosing to tell his comrades of his past humiliation on Cybertron rather than take the coward's way out again. When Grimlock's attempt to set a trap for the renegade Blaster by threatening to kill a group of human children was foiled by Sky Lynx, the Dinobots joined him in pursuing Sky Lynx, only stopping when Blaster appeared and surrendered to them. The Dinobots acted as Grimlock's cheerleading squad when he and Blaster fought for the Autobot leadership on the moon's surface but stopped enjoying the show when Ratbat's Decepticons started shooting at them and it was only a team-up between Grimlock and Blaster that stopped the Autobots being overrun. The Dinobots quickly fell under the command of a resurrected Optimus Prime and accompanied him to Earth to rescue Highbrow from Scorponok's Decepticons. When Optimus Prime was displaced into limbo they followed Fortress Maximus' lead in attacking the future Autobots led by Rodimus Prime before joining them and the present and future Decepticon factions led by Scorponok and Soundwave in battling Galvatron and witnessing his destruction in the time rift. Soon after, the Dinobots were deactivated while helping to defend Earth from an Underbase-powered Starscream. Grimlock was later revived by Ratchet as a Classic Pretender. Missing the other Dinobots, and learning a possible way of reviving them existed in the shape of nucleon on Hydrus Four, he took their deactivated bodies from the Ark and set course for Hydrus Four. After the procedure succeeded, the Dinobots returned to the Ark to find it deserted and set about reviving the other Autobots. Once they'd assembled a large enough force, they headed to Cybertron where they joined the battle against Unicron and witnessed Optimus Prime sacrificing himself to destroy the Chaos Bringer. With Grimlock once more installed as Autobot leader, the Dinobots set out to recover the Ark, which had gone missing in the confusion, but instead ended up battling a group of demons from the centre of Cybertron. Rightly suspecting that Bludgeon's Decepticons were planning to betray the Autobots, the Dinobots set out to retrieve some ships they had hidden on Cybertron some time previous and use them to evacuate the Autobots from the planet. Arriving on Klo, they were ambushed by Bludgeon, with most of the Dinobots, and indeed most of the Autobots, wiped out in the ensueing skirmish. They were revived thanks to the arrival of Optimus Prime and the Last Autobot and joined in the final rout of the Decepticons. Marvel UK future timeline The Dinobots were active under Rodimus Prime's command in 2008 and accompanied him to Junk, where they ended up battling the Unicron-controlled Junkions. Earthforce With Grimlock having revived the Dinobots by unknown means, they came under attack from Shockwave's Decepticons, who were trying to discover the secret, and responded with extreme prejudice. When Optimus Prime made Grimlock leader of the Autobot Earthforce, the Dinobots were inevitably among those he chose as his troops. The other Dinobots played an April Fools joke on Grimlock by convincing him Shockwave had challenged him to single combat and then sending him to fight a snowman. He was not amused. When the combined Decepticon army led by Soundwave and Starscream attacked the Earthforce base, the Dinobots were at the head of the defence. When Slag going berserk as a result of a lack of inbitors coincided with a visit from Optimus Prime, the other Dinobots managed to keep him hidden from their visiting commander. When Snarl was diagnosed with corrodia gravis, the other Dinobots, along with several other Autobots, went to capture Starscream, the only person who could act as a donor. Finding him and Soundwave under attack from Megatron, Shockwave and the Decepticon Mayhem Squad, they were forced to step in and help defeat them. Cartoon continuity The Dinobots were modeled after the dinosaur fossils that Ironhide found in the volcanic caves near the Ark. Grimlock, Slag, and Sludge were built first. After some initial troubles, their performance pleased Optimus Prime enough that he had two more built, adding Snarl and Swoop to the ranks. The Dinobots' role was simply to pulverize anyone or anything that was too strong for the Autobots to handle on their own. In the process, they frequently mouthed off, rebelled and started brawls inside of Autobot Headquarters (and the occasional dinosaur-shaped city). At one point, the Dinobots became sick of only being used as the hammer of the Autobot army, so they deserted, saying that they would fight when they wanted to. However, the Dinobots were called in when the Autobots and the Decepticons began suffering from Cybertonium depletion. During the battle with the Constructicons, they were accidentally sent to Cybertron, where they briefly reduced Shockwave to the role of chew toy. However, Shockwave altered the Dinobots' memory circuits and forced them to work in the Cybertonium Pit. Spike Witwicky and Carly managed to rescue them, and the Dinobots decided to follow Optimus Prime's orders... until such time that they decided not to do so. During the Battle of Autobot City, the Dinobots were dispatched to defeat Devastator, and appeared to fight him to a standstill, with Slag dumping him on his metal butt. During Galvatron's subsequent attack, Kup and Hot Rod literally had to drag them aboard the shuttle, which was shot down over Quintessa. The Dinobots managed to avoid being captured and met Wheelie, who helped them find Kup and Hot Rod. Later, the Dinobots literally kicked the butt of a god. Later, they were fishing after Grimlock surrendered his newfound intelligence to his creation. The Dinobots later joined every other primitive Transformer with an animal form to defeat the creator of a certain destroyer of worlds. ''The Beast Within'' continuity The Dinobots combine into the Beast to fight the Decepticons, but the Beast is so savage and kill-crazy that the Autobots have to kill it. This story is regarded in fandom as being one of the nadirs of Transformers fiction and as completely messing up the chance to show a Dinobot combiner. Dreamwave comics continuity It was established that Grimlock once commanded a splinter faction of Autobots known as the Lightning Strike Coalition, which included the Dynobots. It was also established that following this, these five robots used the Cybertronian designation "D'y'''nobots". The Dynobots traveled to Earth separately from the rest of the Autobots. Grimlock emerged on his own, and the ''Ark Autobots found him battling the Insecticons. The fate of the other Dinobots was unknown, but somehow Megatron had captured them and kept them in stasis in a secret base. After being freed, they traveled to Cybertron and helped liberate it from Shockwave's control. Devil's Due comic continuity figures that could have been... ]] The Dinobots were originally five present-day Autobots who were sent back in time, and reformatted into dinosaurs. When G.I. Joe traveled back in time, they recovered the Dinobots, who proceeded to beat Shockwave's Decepticons three ways from Sunday. Grimlock would play a large role in subsequent events, but the other Dinobots would not be seen again until the joint GI Joe/Autobot offensive, where Snarl teamed up with Storm Shadow. ''Legends'' anthology The story "Paddles" features a sixth Dinobot of the same name. This is also the only appearance of the character. IDW comics continuity Before the Great War, Grimlock and the Dynobots were amongst the gladiatorial teams that competed in the Forge. When Megatron put out a call for combatants, the Dynobots were amongst those who were shown grudging respect by the Predacons as opposed to the remainder of the "amateurs" in the crowd. Eons later, the Dynobots followed Shockwave to prehistoric Earth on a revenge-fueled crusade. The planet's energon fields forced them to take on the forms of the local animal life. Thus protected, they attacked Shockwave on the surface. Sadly, it did not protect the Dynobots from Shockwave's energy blasts, which melted the artificial skin and caused the Dynobots to go into stasis lock due to excessive energon radiation. Due to a deadman's switch, The Dynobots' ship (the Skyfire) blasted a volcano that buried everyone in molten lava. They were later unearthed by a human archaeological dig which was taken over by government agents. Though Grimlock was the first to be brought back online, he was freed from Skywatch's control through a virus implanted by a Machination spy (under orders from Scorponok). Scorponok wanted Grimlock to join him, but Grimlock refused, fought Scorponok and escaped, vowing to find and rescue the other Dynobots. Scorponok, however, plans to take control of the Dynobots himself and use them to assassinate Grimlock. At some point, the bots will team up with Headmaster Sunstreaker. Toys Generation One * Dinobots (1985) :The five Dinobots were sold individually in boxed packages from 1985 to 1986. They featured a uniform color scheme of red for their die-cast metal parts, black plastic for legs and forearms, smoky translucent for remnant cockpits, and golden metalized plastic highlights depicting machine details. Most had fairly good articulation for G1 toys, even to the extent of opening mouths in beast mode (except Snarl). Sludge in particular has excellent leg articulation. * Grimlock (Pretender, 1989) :A much smaller and simpler version of Grimlock, with a Pretender shell. * Action Masters (1990) :Both Grimlock and Snarl were given new toy forms as part of the Action Masters line. Generation 2 * Dinobots (1993) The original toys of Grimlock, Slag and Snarl were reissued in new colors. In the case of Grimlock, mostly dark blue with chrome silver highlights. As for the others, nothing noteworthy other than paint aps were changed. Beast Wars * Grimlock (Deluxe, 1997) A redeco of Dinobot. Alternators * Grimlock (2005) He turns into a 1/24th scale car.BLA BLA BLA Classics * Swoop (Mini-Con Dinobots Team, 2006) A new mold for the original character, alongside two new-character teammates. * Grimlock (Deluxe, 2006) A new mold based on his original design, with an updated dinosaur mode. Other * The 2003 Dinobots subline, a Wal-Mart exclusive, reuses most/all of the G1 Dinobots' names. In the absence of any bios or fiction, however, it is unclear if they are meant to represent the same characters. * The 2005 Grimlock & Swoop two-pack was originally intended to portray the G1 characters, but ended up as part of the Energon toyline instead, representing new characters. Note * The Dinobots are the first Transformers whose creation is shown in the cartoon. It seems simple enough: The Autobots simply construct their bodies, flick the switch, and they're animate. Wheeljack later upgrades their brains, after which they display sentience. However, the later episode "The Key to Vector Sigma, Part 1" heavily implies that there's no way to bring a Transformer to life without the use of the supercomputer Vector Sigma. Still, other episodes would show the creation of Trypticon and the Technobots without the use of Vector Sigma. For more on this issue, see the separate article Reproduction. Category:Autobot subgroups Category:Combiner teams Generation One Category:Generation 1 Category:Generation 2